Even with my new Airport Extreme access point, today I saw the latency issue crop up again.

I had a look at my Airport settings in System Profiler, and noticed that unlike usual, the MacBook was using a 2.4Ghz channel.

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=36.006 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=4.201 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=21.760 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=5.251 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=16.989 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=31.053 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=3.157 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=2.065 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=4.249 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=29.178 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=238.861 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=59.255 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=67.123 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=271.693 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=1.238 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=9.040 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=39.751 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=32.090 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=52.312 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=25.724 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 21

Request timeout for icmp_seq 22

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=64.573 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=24 ttl=64 time=12.917 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=25 ttl=64 time=133.862 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=26 ttl=64 time=65.149 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 27

Request timeout for icmp_seq 28

So I reconfigured the Airport Extreme to have a separate SSID for 5Ghz, and connected to that explicitly using the MBP:

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=4.974 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=4.790 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=4.752 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=5.579 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=4.807 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=5.760 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=2.061 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=6.779 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=6.059 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=6.163 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=4.557 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=4.568 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=6.735 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=5.833 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=5.841 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=4.438 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=5.815 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=4.733 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=6.212 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=4.612 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=5.413 ms

In both cases I was busy playing a 1080p MKV over the air.

So there you have it.

It looks like the problem is that the new 2011 MBPs have problems when using anything except a 5Ghz 802.11n WiFi channel.

Apparently one of the areas 10.6.8 looks at is AirPort, I hope for the rest of you guy's sakes that this will be addressed then, as the solution should not be to buy a new router.

At least, for myself, I now have an easy way of testing whether they have really fixed it.

Everybody who has a 5Ghz capable router, are you able to confirm that this is the case for you too? e.g. force the MBP to use a 2.4ghz channel like 11, and then check what your latency is while using the network heavily, and compare it to 5Ghz numbers.

Bitserf...I have a dual band router (Cisco/Linsys E3000), with an 802.11n network (5Ghz) and an 802.11g network (2.4Ghz - channel 1 - set by auto scan).

My ping rates are the same (i.e. within normal ranges <5ms) when pinging local IPs on both networks using my 2011 Macbook Pro (since the latest software update).

However, every 20 or so pings when using the 802.11g network drop out, so you may be on to something with that.

It also would explain why in the Apple store they couldn't reproduce my network dropout issues (I got the Macbook before I bought the new router), since their wireless networks are all running at 5Ghz.

Thankfully I didn't have to buy the new router because of the issues, but because I changed broadband type (ADSL->Fibre), plus I wanted a dual band gigabit router anyway

thanks a lot. I made the changes you suggested, but I´m not sure if my situation is better or not.

Thats because I´ve got the Extreme Dual band... (now with 5gz, but I am also extending it with an airport express... and I cant find any configuration for setting the express to 5gz... or perhaps it is not necessary?

I was just trying to go through the Support Section of Apple Mac website, and couldn't see the update 10.6.8 still.. Are you sure it is out still? Have you installed it? Can you help me with its direct link to see the list of technical changes and problems addressed in this update.

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